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They are fierce, fabulous, fashionable - and fiendishly high. And they carry a lethal price-tag. We are talking about "killer heels", the 11cm to 14cm weapons of style.

Louis Vuitton
's exotic "Spicy" range shook the shoe biz galaxy to the core this spring - rocketing the £1,000-plus shoe from a luxury people dreamt about to an A-list must-have.

Conjured up by creative director Marc Jacobs and his Paris team, "Spicys" are a cocktail of snakeskin, feathers, fringing, beads, leopard-print, rivets, laces, metallics and sequins, costing between £1,140 and £2,040. They caused a surge of lust among the celebrity pack and turned diminutive divas such as Victoria Beckham and Madonna into towering titans.

And "Spicys" are not alone in their stratospheric height or price. Richard Tisci at Givenchy designed the "Western" (£1,075), already a sell-out at Selfridges', Oxford Street, which is celebrating its centenary this month. Other hot sellers at Selfridges include Guiseppe Zanotti's "Chanteuse" (£885), the "Gladiator with Studs" by Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga (£855), and Christian Louboutin's fringed stiletto (£625).

The fad for festooned footwear at designer level has prompted an explosion in sales - and prices - of high street shoes, too. Topshop shoes, first launched in 2002, have increased sixfold in sales, with 400 styles regularly in stock. Its premier shoe brand, "Boutique", also available at Selfridges, now regularly tops the £100 mark; and its fringed and beaded "Primal-Voodoo" sandal, with a 12cm heel, costs £120.

New Look's 14cm "Ghana" skyscraper, in beaded, fluoro-violet, faux-python and leopard-print (£55) was one of the most expensive shoes it has ever produced and has sold out, replaced by the tiger-stripe or fringed brown suede "Nizzle" (£40).

Kurt Geiger, Dune, Office, River Island and Carvela all have "tribal" versions at varying prices. And Evans's "Leopard Tie-Up", in gold, black and leopard-print, is just £35.

Neil Clifford, the CEO of Kurt Geiger, which has 20-plus own-brand shops and more than 90 concessions in leading British and European department stores, says business is up 30 per cent on last year, because shoes "are like lipstick in the Great Depression; one of the few ways to cheer yourself up, and a cheap way of making an outfit look new."

Sebastian Manes, director of accessories at Selfridges, says there is a simple reason why shoes have become the status symbol of the season: "Handbags are not sexy. Shoes have that fetishist appeal. Shoes are sexy."

READER OFFER, DESIGNER CENTENARY SHOES

Selfridges is celebrating its centenary with a Limited Edition designer label collection of accessories and products in its iconic yellow, '109 Pantone', available exclusively in stores from this month. Our prize competition offers a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti Centenary Stilettoes, valued at £585, and a pair of Jimmy Choo Centenary Strappy stilettoes, valued at £485. A further ten readers can each win a bottle of Kiehl's Crème de Corps, valued at £45, all from Selfridges; 0800 123 400.
Click here to enter
. Closing date: Friday, May 15th, 2009. This prize draw is open to residents of UK, CI, IOM and ROI, aged 18 or over